Billionaire Femi Otedola shares readiness to spend $100 million on Dangote Refinery private placement

• Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola commits $100 million to purchase Dangote Refinery stake ahead of public offer.

• The refinery is set to list for public listing in September 2026.

• The refinery is valued at $40 billion to $50 billion.

"I have been here with him five times, and my compensation for that is for him to give me a chance to invest $100 million in the private IPO," Otedola told the press while in the company of Aliko Dangote at the Dangote Refinery in Lagos State.

Otedola, who has invested across different industries, including in finance, where he holds a majority stake in First Bank and in the power sector, where he held a 77% controlling stake in Geregu Power for a reported $750 million. He revealed that he decided to sell his stake in Geregu Power to take a $100 million position in the Dangote Refinery private IPO.

Dangote Refinery, which is located in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State, was commissioned by late President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2023 and commenced operations in January 2024. It's the biggest refinery in the world with the capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of petroleum motor spirit daily.

Beyond petrol, the refinery produces aviation jet fuel, kerosene, and valuable petrochemical byproducts like polypropylene and fertiliser.

According to Aliko Dangote, who is Africa's richest man, the refinery costs an estimated 20 billion dollars to build, with the company needing to carry out massive infrastructure construction, including its own seaports and wide concrete roads.

Dangote Refinery has shared its capacity to supply Nigeria's daily fuel consumption requirement while also having excess supply that is imported to other countries, including the United States. The importance of the refinery, which is considered the singular most important infrastructure development in Africa as increased following the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran, which has impacted the supply of crude oil from the Middle East.

Ahead of its IPO, which is scheduled for September, Dangote Refinery has been valued between $40 billion and $50 billion. The Dangote Group intends to float up to a 10% Equity stake to the public, which means the IPO is expected to raise to $5 billion in a single transaction.

The private stock offering, which will precede the public offer is expected to attract massive buy-ins from global capital ventures who would be aiming to take a strong position in the future of Africa and the global energy market the refinery is set to shape.

Building on the monumental feat of building the world's biggest refinery in Nigeria, the Dangote Group, through its president, has expressed a readiness to build another refinery in Eastern Africa. Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, whose net worth has doubled to 30 billion dollars since his refinery began operations recently, met with William Ruto, the President of Kenya and Uganda's President Museveni to discuss the planned refinery in the region.